


A rock in a river.

by One_Real_Imonkey



Series: Twisted Memories AU [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Battle of Galidraan Happens Differently, Caring Dooku (Star Wars), Good Parent Jango Fett, Grandparent Dooku (Star Wars), Grief/Mourning, Mand'alor Jango Fett, Minor Character Death, Missing in Action, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Sickfic, Sith Dooku (Star Wars), Slavery mention, Wakes & Funerals, Young Anakin Skywalker, bantha flu, dooku does care, melida/daan mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29706567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Real_Imonkey/pseuds/One_Real_Imonkey
Summary: Obi-Wan met his grandmaster for the first time at a funeral.Over the years, through high and low, his grandmaster Dooku was always there for him. An anchor point, something that parted the roughest of tides and kept him going.
Relationships: Dooku & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Twisted Memories AU [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146377
Comments: 15
Kudos: 127





	A rock in a river.

**Author's Note:**

> This one doesn't seem too sad, until you think more into it, mwahahahaha.  
> I don't own Star Wars.  
> Please enjoy.

The first time Obi-Wan met his grandmaster was a funeral.

Well, actually the first time they met he was five and he covered Master Dooku in paint, but that one rarely counted, just as he never counted when he was six and he’d fallen asleep on Master Dooku’s lap while being read a story. After all, Dooku had taken a  long term posting a few days after that, and that had been it.

Until the funeral.

Qui-Gon's funeral.

Ani had slipped from his side, taken by Master Windu to get some rest. He'd stayed almost alone, watching the fire burn low, watching his Master, his Buir, join the Force in the entirety. 

An arm had wrapped itself around his shoulders, and he’d jumped slightly, before looking up into his grandmaster’s red eyes.

He'd been crying too.

Obi-Wan was cold. He had been since they first encountered the Sith, bone deep and like a weight dragging him down. He wouldn’t get warm, not layers and layers of robes, not the fire, no matter how close to it he got, even when someone had reached out to pull him back before he could get burnt.

He wanted Jango, who once said he’d brought the warmth and fire back into his soul. He wanted Jango to do the same, to warm him and bring back the fire he couldn’t seem to find.

Master Dooku wasn’t the burning star Jango was, but even the first rays of sun could thaw a frosted field, and his Grandmaster’s arm was the first warmth he’d felt since entering that hanger almost a week ago.

“Master, I'm so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault, pada... Knight, Kenobi.”

“If I'd have been faster...”

“Obi-Wan, I’ve been alive a long time, and I promise you, as much as it’s easier said than done, you cannot dwell on what- ifs . They will consume you.”

He wanted Jango, and in a few days he’d have Jango.

For now, he had his grandmaster.

It was more than enough.

.

.

.

“You need  to get some rest, Obi-Wan.”

He fell of his chair.

It wasn’t dignified, nor was the sound he made, or probably his appearance, but Master Dooku had startled him, and he did need some rest.

Just not yet.

Strong hands helped him back into his seat, and he re-focused on Anakin.

“Grandmaster?”

“I only returned to the Temple last night, and when I heard...”

He gestured to Anakin, out of his mind with this awful strain of  Bantha flu that had been vaccinated for, except slaves on the outer rim didn’t get vaccines and Anakin had never had this shot.

He'd been exposed, it was only supposed to be a small mission on Coruscant, a bit of on-the-job training in one of the Space Ports, people watching and trying to work our who was from where, how to spot bounty hunters or smugglers or mercenaries. He hadn’t thought about an exposure to something as obsolete as  Bantha Flu, because he was stupid  stupid stupid...

“What has Healer  Che said?”

“There’s no guarantees, he’s not getting any worse, but he’s been delirious for days, and his fever won’t break, no matter what they do. He'll get better, or he  won't , and we don’t know which.”

“Trust in the Force, young one, it will take the right path. I notice you’re taking this vigil alone?”

“Jango’s on a hunt. I called him, he’ll be home as soon as he can, but... but time seems rarely on our side at the moment.”

“Is... everything ok, with you both?”

He didn’t take a pause to sigh, caught out by the question, but while he understood Dooku’s reservations of Jango, he needed to prove to him that they were happy and fine.

“Wha, oh, yeah, we’re fine. I just... every time we split up something ends up going wrong. Myles is sending someone to take the Bounty, so it’s... it was a  two day trip, so I think they’ll be there by now, handover shouldn’t take long, and then it’s another two days. He'll be here soon, I just... I'm praying to the Force Anakin will hold on that long, that he’ll have recovered, or be recovering. But  kriff , I just feel better knowing he’s by my side, that he has my back, you know?”

“It’s rare indeed to gain such things. Focus your energy on Anakin, I'm sure Jango will be fine.”

Dooku was right, Jango would be fine. Jango would be here soon. He had to focus on his  ad’ika , his little 11-year-old  ad’ika .

“Obi-Wan,  grandpadawan mine, you need to rest, eat something, have a shower. Please, you have to take care of yourself, or you can’t take care of Anakin, and I'm sure the last thing Jango needs is to return to see you equally hospitalised because you did not care for yourself.”

His grandmaster wasn’t wrong, his stomach was tight and his skin crawled a little and his hair itched and his eyes were drooping but if he removed his hand from Anakin’s, if he moved from the boy’s bedside...

On  Melida /Daan, fevers like this had taken far too many, and he’d fallen asleep or left more than once, waking to find them gone. They'd passed and he hadn’t been there, passed alone, not Anakin.

“I can’t leave him, grandmaster. Not alone.”

“Does he look alone,  grandpadawan mine?”

Looking up from his little one, he saw Dooku had taken a seat on the other side of Anakin’s bed, in reach of a bowl of cool water and the strips of fabric.

He was reluctant to leave, hadn't moved except to use the fresher since Anakin fell ill, but his grandmaster was watching, would look after him.

His grandmaster had been a  Forcesend since Master Qui-Gon had died, teaching him  Makashi , offering advice whenever he needed it, a rock in the river he’d found himself thrown into.

He stumbled to the fresher, finding a change of clothes next to the sonic, a ration bar and a few energy  gel packs on top of those. Feeling fresher and slightly stronger, he returned to his chair.

“Your comm blinked.”

“Thank you, Master, and thank you for these.”

“It was no burden on me. As much as the outside does not believe it, Jedi do have families, and you are part of mine, you and Anakin both. I failed horribly, not being here for you when you were younger, but I am planning on doing everything to make up for it, and it’s no hassle to get you clothes and food, as I said.”

“Still, thank you.”

He flicked open the comm, seeing a message from Jango.

-Leaving now, be home as soon as I can. Love you lots, both of you, stay strong, ner riduur. Ner mesh’la rid’alor.

.

.

.

“Obi-Wan?”

“Master? Why do you always make me jump?”

“I can only make you jump when you’re pre-occupied, what’s wrong?”

“It’s probably nothing, Master.”

“Obi-Wan...”

“Just a feeling.”

“You should trust your instincts, young one.”

“Jango took a hunt, one related to the  shabuir who set the trap on Galidraan.”

He knew it was a hard topic to breach, for anyone in his  aliit . Dooku and Jango had been on opposite sides, and Dooku’s... misconceptions about the situation, had ended up with Jango in slavery. Both sides had suffered horrific losses, and while neither were particularly willing to hold a conversation or be in the same room or building as each other, they weren’t trying to kill each other, and that was, as far as he was concerned, more than alright. Better than he could have hoped for.

But both of them had been tricked into it, and both of them acknowledged that fact.

“Oh, I see.”

“I... I had a bad feeling about it, Master, awful, but I let him go.”

“I doubt you could have stopped him.  Mandalorians are headstrong.”

“I know, but he usually listens to my bad feelings, this time... he swore he’d be fine, and I trust him. I have to trust him.”

“But...?”

“He’s missed his last check in, the last three, actually. And he said he’d be back in a month, but it’s coming up on the  one month mark, he should be home now. But jobs go wrong, and things go sideways, and comms get destroyed or malfunction, it happens. But I can’t help but thinking that something’s wrong.”

“Obi-Wan, Jango, he’s a brilliant warrior, a strong and competent one, he led the  Mandalorians before, and he’s leading them again now. I'm sure he’s fine, Obi-Wan, trust your husband. I doubt anything short of death could keep him from coming back to you and Anakin. Don't let yourself panic yet, give him time. It will be ok, Obi-Wan.”

Time.

Dooku was right.

Jango was smart, determined, passionate, powerful, Mandokarla.

He'd be fine.

Nothing could stop him when he had his mind set on something.

He'd be home soon.

He'd promised it.

He'd be home soon.

Obi-Wan just had to be patient and trust in his riduur.

He'd be home soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a:  
> Buir- parent  
> ad'ika- little child (affectionate)  
> ner riduur- my spouse.  
> ner mesh'la rid'alor- my beautiful Ruler's spouse. (Think a King referring to his wife as my queen or something similar)  
> shabuir- bastards  
> aliit- family  
> Mandokarla- mandalorian spirit, the right stuff.  
> riduur- spouse
> 
> So yeah, that was a thing. Hits differntly depending on whether you've read Stolen, huh.  
> This is going to have a second chapter, I think, with the aftermath of this chapter, in the years where Jango is gone and Dooku is the person Obi-Wan turns to.  
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.  
> I'm taking prompts for this AU for other things people might like to see, in both the sad and happy timelines.  
> My Tumblr is One_Real_Imonkey.  
> Please R+R.


End file.
